Sydney Avey's Blog, page 13

Five-Year Diary

I finished my five-year diary last year. Keeping that diary let me look back at events, spot trends, recall moments, and notice patterns in my life.

The diary reveals the timeline of the two books I’ve published, a history of my travels, sweet times spent with friends, and also the mundane. Recording my weight and daily (or not) exercise routine helped me stay on track. It has been interesting to note weather patterns; it’s not so unusual that it snows at Easter in the Sierra.

When it came time...

L’Chaim, To Life: Freedom and Healthy Debate

In France, Europeans marched in the streets, a solemn display of their intent to defend their right to express their opinions. In the Middle East, Muslims rioted over the public ridicule of their prophet and vowed revenge. A great divide exists between people who now live and work shoulder to shoulder.

While researching a minor character in a book I’m writing, I came across this quote by Senator William Borah.

“No more fatuous chimera has ever infested the brain than that you can control opinio...

May I have a word?

A trendy bar in San Francisco’s Mission District makes a space for art

Sis asked me about my word for 2015. Each year we choose a word to focus on, one that embodies a concept we wish to understand on a deeper level. This year she is focusing on the goodness of God. My word is beauty.

We do a word study to define the term, and we read Scripture and books on our chosen topic to expand our understanding, This year, we will spend a year looking for goodness and beauty in the ugly and mundane.

I sus...

Getting Through

I use getting through as a life strategy. I get through one thing, and then another, and then another. Why do we speak of life events as something we need to get through?

I got through the holidays. More to the point, I got to spend precious time with my family. I felt like I was in a movie when I met my friend Sherill on a blustery day in a trendy bistro near Pike’s Market in Seattle; spirits were high; our conversation was magic; it was exciting to be on the streets instead of in the kitchen...

Excerpts: a sale, a past, and a present

Today the Kindle edition of The Sheep Walker’s Daughter went on sale for $0.99. I am tasked with promoting the sale, so I thought I’d share some excerpts of the different ways Dee celebrated Christmas.

If you have read Dee’s story in my two books, you know her struggle. Life events come into sharp focus in the way we celebrate (or don’t) our holidays.

Excerpts

Valerie (The Sheep Walker’s Daughter)

“Mother and I managed to make it through Christmas—she by working a lot and me by reading a lot. On...

Advent 2014

I love the concept of Advent, pulling away from the everyday to prepare for an arrival; marking time until a special event; slowing down to a wait.

Mornings I fire up my Jacquie Lawson online advent calendar and experience an Edwardian Advent. Last year’s calendar jumped me right into shopping, decorating and running all over the countryside. This year’s countdown is a crawl. The Edwardians approached the holidays with a clear sense of decorum. Did you know that a plum pudding had to boil for...

An Ozark Connection

Ghost towns like East Calico Rock dot America

East Calico Rock, Arkansas

We traveled to the Ozarks this Thanksgiving to nurture our connection with grandma. This trip, I looked for beauty in a culture that mystifies me simply because it is not my place. Hardwoods dominate the landscape; the trunks of the Black Oaks look as if they were sketched in pen by artists. Sun glistens in coppery leaves that curl inward and twist in the wind on their stems, loathe to leave their branches. That might be a...

In Relief

[image error]My neighbor’s Mexican tile roof shines in bright relief against a darkening sky. Has Old Man Winter cast a glance westward? The temperature has dropped to 66 degrees. I hear you laughing. In Buffalo, New York, rooftops piled six feet high with snow threaten to collapse so I’m not complaining.

We went to the store to buy warm clothes for our Than...

Witness Protection

A Facebook posting by Jeremiah Peters caused me to revisit my list of acceptable hideouts should I ever require witness protection. Jeremiah was hanging out at Barnes and Noble, trying to get some work done, when a guy sitting next to him took a phone call, put it on speaker phone, and proceeded to discuss his security clearance with a job recruiter, or something like that. The posting garnered some witty comments having to do with the danger involved in overhearing such a conversation. That...

Beyond Reason

Beyond Reason

Have you ever sung a hymn in church and puzzled over the lyrics? For years I’ve sung about being covered by the blood of Jesus, knowing in my head it refers to God’s sacrifice of his Son on the cross to save me from my sin, but feeling in my heart like an accidental bystander sprayed with the blood of a luckless victim.

This morning I finished Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (see my review) and had an epiphany. As Alice descends into the fog of early onset Alzheimer’s, her husband Joh...